Bobcat Stadium expansion exceeds $10 million goal

Crews remove snow from Bobcat Stadium as the football team practices on Friday afternoon, Dec. 3, 2010.

First they beat the Grizzlies, and now the Bobcats have beat the
$10 million fundraising goal for expanding Montana State
University's football stadium

"We're absolutely ecstatic," Michael Stevenson said Tuesday. As
the new president and chief executive officer of the MSU
Foundation, Stevenson is in charge of construction and fundraising.
"It's unprecedented.

"Now the work really begins," Stevenson said. The official
groundbreaking is scheduled for Jan. 28.

The project will rebuild and expand the southeast end-zone, add
5,200 seats, new concession stands, restrooms, locker rooms,
wheelchair access, a high-tech scoreboard and field lighting.

With more money and pledges still coming in above the $10
million goal, Stevenson added, it may be possible to build the new
end-zone seating with pre-cast concrete, rather than aluminum.

Noting the schedule is tight to finish construction in time for
the first fall 2011 game, he said, "We'll celebrate when people are
sitting in the new end zone."

The $10 million was raised by late last week and verified
Monday, three months after the fundraising campaign began.

"I'm thrilled," said Rob Ash, head football coach, while on a
recruiting trip in Texas. "The full $10 million is going to give us
the look and appeal our benefactors had in mind. It's going to be
outstanding."

"We're extremely excited," said Peter Fields, MSU athletic
director.

MSU President Waded Cruzado agreed in October that if private
donors could raise $4 million, the university would match up to $4
million with university debt financing, to be paid off from ticket
sales.

It was "a tall order" when the goal of raising millions in a few
weeks was announced, Stevenson said, but once the key leadership
donations were received, "then we reached out to the far corners of
Bobcat Nation."

By the time of the ‘Cat-Griz intrastate rivalry game in late
November, the basic $8 million goal had been reached, and Cruzado
decided to go for another $2 million in private donations to
enlarge the project.

The goals of the expansion are to create more seats to serve
MSU's growing student body and the public, replace aging south-end
bleachers, and give Bobcat Stadium a more exciting look and
feel.

The corners around the south end-zone will be filled in with
seats, replacing what look like high-school bleachers with a more
big-time "bowl" look. The expansion will also create a more
exciting "game-day experience," Stevenson said, with more fans and
a larger, noisier student section in the south end.

More than 500 people gave to the project. Donations ranged from
$10 that fans texted in by cell phone during the ‘Cat-Griz game, up
to $1 million that an anonymous donor gave in exchange for naming
the student section after the Bobcats' renowned football coach,
Sonny Holland.

The biggest donation, $1.1 million, came from Gene Thayer, who
came to Montana State in 1950 with some $300 in his pocket. He went
on to found the successful Montana Milling grain merchandising
company, become mayor of Great Falls and a state senator. He
attends all Bobcat Stadium games and said he's glad to give back to
MSU.

"I'm extremely excited," Thayer said. "I think by having a
winning football team, the recognition we're going to get will
greatly enhance the value to all departments at Montana State. ...
Everybody benefits. It's nice we're finally competitive with our
sister institution in Missoula."

The ASMSU Student Senate passed two resolutions, one supporting
the expansion so long as no student fees were used and the other
agreeing to move the student seats from the sidelines to the south
end zone. There was some opposition at first, Eric Fisher, MSU
student president said, but students supported the project after
meeting with Cruzado.

"I know it will be an amazing stadium for students and alumni
and the community to enjoy," Fisher said.

In response to some grumbling from faculty members, Cruzado told
MSU academic leaders last month that athletics and academics are
"not either-or," and that athletics is a "magnet" that draws people
to the university and increases the chances they'll support the
university's teaching programs.

Asked why this project was successful in the middle of the
recession, while an earlier, more expensive proposal to build
stadium sky boxes didn't fly during Bozeman's economic boom, Fields
said the difference was probably "the scope of the project."

"Everybody bought into it," Fields said. "It was the right
project at the right time."

Larry Aasheim, president of the 250-member Quarterback Club,
said it was successful because "Cruzado had the vision." She gave
them fundraising deadlines and created a sense of urgency, he said,
and the Bobcat team had "a wonderful season."

Coach Ash said the stadium expansion, the public support it
demonstrates, plus the team's success on the field would all make
"a huge difference" in recruiting.

Stevenson said he doesn't know how many jobs will be created,
but "it's going to be an injection of $10 million into the local
economy." Martel Construction of Bozeman is the general contractor
and A&E Architects of Billings, headed by MSU alumni, is in
charge of design.

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